322 BR1NDLEY AS MASTER WHEELWRIGHT TARTY. 



the Earl. The earthenware then manufactured at Burs- 

 lem was of a very inferior sort, consisting almost entirely 

 of brown ware ; and the quantity turned out was so small 

 that it was hawked about on the backs of the potters 

 themselves, or sold by higglers, who carried it from 

 village to village in the panniers of their donkeys. The 

 brothers Elers, the Dutchmen, erected a potwork of an 

 improved kind near Burslem, at the beginning of the 

 century, in which they first practised the art of salt- 

 glazing, brought by them from Holland. The next 

 improvement introduced was the use of powder of flints, 

 used at first as a wash or dip, and afterwards mixed with 

 tobacco-pipe clay, from which an improved ware was 

 made, called " Flint potters." The merit of introducing 

 this article is usually attributed to William Astbury, of 

 Shelton, who, when on a journey to London, stopping 

 at an inn at Dunstable, noticed the very soft and delicate 

 nature of some burnt flint-stones when mixed with water 

 (the hostler having used the powdered flint as a remedy 

 for a disorder in his horses' eyes), and from thence he is 

 said to have conceived the idea of applying it to the 

 purposes of his trade. In first using the calcined flints, 

 Mr. Astbury 's practice was to have them pounded in an 

 iron mortar until perfectly levigated ; and being but 

 sparingly used, this answered the demand for some time. 

 But when the use of flint became more common, this 

 tedious process would no longer suffice. The brothers 

 John and Thomas Wedgwood carried on the pottery 

 business in a very small way, but were nevertheless 

 hampered by the short supply of flint powder, and 

 it was found necessary to adopt some means of in- 

 creasing the quantity. In their emergency the potters 

 called " The Schemer " to their aid ; and hence we find 

 him frequently occupied in erecting flint-mills, in Burslem 

 and the neighbourhood, from that time forward. The 

 success which attended his efforts brought Brindley not 

 only fame, but business. It happened that, while thus 



